im thinking about panelizing and cutting my own pcb’s after they are made.
i currently use eagle pcb
what are you all using, and how happy have you been with it? im assuming most people are panelizing with a gerber tool, any cost conscious recommendations?
for cutting i was thinking you could even make a small table saw using the pencil flex shaft attachment if you can get a saw attachment with a decent enough diameter
Those are the blades…I must have misquoted the price.
The reason we didn’t buy the smaller, was because of the lack of diamond blades.
I think the blades should last for about 3000 meters (118109.9 inches)
So that should get a fair amount of cutting. This does depend on setting the blade speed correctly. To fast or slow and the blade will wear faster.
I do not recommend any blade with teeth, it would be real easy to almost loose a finger when cutting panels. (Can’t fully loose one, the blade depth is quite shallow).
The diamond blade goes through FR4 like butter…and leaves a very smooth edge.
And one more item…you want a saw with a depth adjustment. If you ever want to cut a panel assembled, you may need to clear an over hanging part. With the small saw, you couldn’t do that. We have the blade just barely piercing the material on top.
however for 50 bucks, the light version of the software you mentioned seems like a good deal.
the nice thing about germerge is that you could drop a bunch of projects into different folders, give it your end panel size and it will arrange them for you the most efficient way … kinda like batchpcb’ish
You can typically just score a PCB with a diamond blade or something similarly sharp and then snap them along the line. A paper cutter sort of device will work well too, though after repeated use the blade will get dull.
I use gerbmerge - it’s great. I wouldn’t put money into anything else.
I use a metal shear for cutting PCBs. It works great - allows a highly precise and clean cut. Fast and safe, too. Costs a bit but I got a shear/brake for other purposes like making cases and bending the odd piece for projects. I can’t imagine being with out one in the shop. using a saw to cut FR4 makes a nasty mess and even carbide eventually dulls up under the fiberglass onslaught.
by the way, if you are sending your PCB to a board house, they usually will v-score a panel for free to cheap. That’s probably the best solution.
Philba:
I use gerbmerge - it’s great. I wouldn’t put money into anything else.
I use a metal shear for cutting PCBs. It works great - allows a highly precise and clean cut. Fast and safe, too. Costs a bit but I got a shear/brake for other purposes like making cases and bending the odd piece for projects. I can’t imagine being with out one in the shop. using a saw to cut FR4 makes a nasty mess and even carbide eventually dulls up under the fiberglass onslaught.
by the way, if you are sending your PCB to a board house, they usually will v-score a panel for free to cheap. That’s probably the best solution.
Philba,
I agree with you on some of the points you make, but your methods wouldn’t apply to a populated board. That is the reason for the saw method. It is not as messy as one would think. We use a vacuum attachment…and it takes 98% of the dust away.
Just depends on what your purposes are. Pre/post fabrication.
There is always the $30 “multi-design” panel option at Gold Phoenix. As long as you only have 6 designs on a single panel they will step and repeat and depanelize your boards for you. Although as James points out that only works for pre-production (before everything’s been soldered). But that does mean you can do insane pcb shapes that a step shear or saw wont do.
gold phoenix is great they will route everything out even complex shapes and i may use them for some project, for some of my boards i want them to be produced domestically … which pretty much leaves 4pcb and they won’t touch tab routing, multipanel etc… etc… without a huge jump in price. the idea is i could send a panelized version to them and get the $33 dollar deal +50 for sending a panelized board. they will not panelize for me or offer tab routing on the $33 boards even if i offer to pay extra, i assume so people are more likely to use there standard run production.
its kind of lame when you can send in a 1x1" board $33, a 6x10" board $33 and have to pay the same … and if you did a 1x2 array of 1x1" boards you would actually end up paying more than either $33 + 50. plus $15 for ground shipping :? where the 1x2 actually saves the company money over a 6x10 but im paying 2.5 times more… to save them materials.
the sales person could be pulling my leg as well and if i send a panelized gerber there is a good chance they wouldn’t even notice.
its still a great service i would recommend, it could just be a little more hobbyist friendly.
unsped:
gold phoenix is great they will route everything out even complex shapes and i may use them for some project, for some of my boards i want them to be produced domestically … which pretty much leaves 4pcb and they won’t touch tab routing, multipanel etc… etc… without a huge jump in price. the idea is i could send a panelized version to them and get the $33 dollar deal +50 for sending a panelized board. they will not panelize for me or offer tab routing on the $33 boards even if i offer to pay extra, i assume so people are more likely to use there standard run production.
its kind of lame when you can send in a 1x1" board $33, a 6x10" board $33 and have to pay the same … and if you did a 1x2 array of 1x1" boards you would actually end up paying more than either $33 + 50. plus $15 for ground shipping :? where the 1x2 actually saves the company money over a 6x10 but im paying 2.5 times more… to save them materials.
the sales person could be pulling my leg as well and if i send a panelized gerber there is a good chance they wouldn’t even notice.
its still a great service i would recommend, it could just be a little more hobbyist friendly.
I see a problem with your idea…you have a minimum order of 4 boards at $33.00 each.
That is 4 boards of 6 x 10 at $33.0o each plus the $50 plus the $15.00
Philba:
I use gerbmerge - it’s great. I wouldn’t put money into anything else.
I use a metal shear for cutting PCBs. It works great - allows a highly precise and clean cut. Fast and safe, too. Costs a bit but I got a shear/brake for other purposes like making cases and bending the odd piece for projects. I can’t imagine being with out one in the shop. using a saw to cut FR4 makes a nasty mess and even carbide eventually dulls up under the fiberglass onslaught.
by the way, if you are sending your PCB to a board house, they usually will v-score a panel for free to cheap. That’s probably the best solution.
Philba,
I agree with you on some of the points you make, but your methods wouldn’t apply to a populated board. That is the reason for the saw method. It is not as messy as one would think. We use a vacuum attachment…and it takes 98% of the dust away.
Just depends on what your purposes are. Pre/post fabrication.
James L
I wouldn’t try to cut a populated board at all. best to get it v-scored before populating.
